CIRCULAR PIETRA DURA TABLETOP. MARBLE AND HARDSTONES.

Circular table top in marble and hard stone. Inspired by Italian models from the 16th-17th centuries. In the centre of the panel, surrounded by a garland of flowers, there is a pearl necklace with a bow. Around this element, there are four vases with birds perched on branches interspersed and, further outwards, a band with vegetal scrolls. This area is framed by another with simplified scrolls and another with more elaborate ones interspersed with scallop shapes and heraldic shields, and perched birds. The fleur-de-lis on the border clearly shows the influence of Gobelins' work on this panel. The French workshop was set up to make this type of inlay for the French court, and is the heir to the native centre of “hard stonework”: the Florence of Piero de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent, who wanted to revive a Roman technique called “opus sectile” mosaic. Mention should also be made of the Royal Workshop of Naples and the one created by Charles III at the Royal Site of El Buen Retiro in Madrid, which closed at the beginning of the 19th century. After 1600, the primacy of the decoration that appeared in the 15th century is clear, and elements such as birds, butterflies and pearl necklaces were added over time. The present example inherits this whole tradition: compare the table made by Francesco Ghinghi in the Real Laboratorio Delle Piedre Dure in Naples (catalogue number O00511) and the board (O00466) from around the mid-18th century, both in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, those kept in the Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence (especially works such as the board made as a model for a table by Jacopo Ligozzi around 1610). Traditionally, a technique very similar to inlay was used, but instead of wood, using marbles of different colours and veins and hard stones (greater than 6 on the Mohs scale) such as lapis lazuli, agates, etc. In the present example, many of those used in works between the 16th and 18th centuries have been included, making it an outstanding work.

· Size: Diam. 150 cms.